Most couples plan a romantic date out the first time they hire a non-family babysitter, but my husband and I opted to visit Wegmans to shop for pizza ingredients. We sampled a couple of organic cheeses and landed on an aged cheddar cheese from Sonoma Creamery in California. When you purchase such a rich cheese you don’t want to take away its intensity by adding too many toppings so the combination of white pizza sauce, broccoli, and a dash of red pepper flakes was the perfect combination. After pre-baking the dough, the cheese melted nicely at 450 degrees for 8 minutes.

What happens if you bake your pizza on a cold stone? I pre-heated the oven without the pizza stone this week and learned there are a few noticeable differences.

First, normally when I pre-bake the dough on a hot stone it gets air bubbles and crispy in about four minutes. On the cold stone the dough kept its form and needed closer to seven minutes to pre-bake, and even then it was soft and stuck to the stone.

Second, the pizza on the cold stone took about 5 minutes longer to bake after I added the toppings. Third, the pizza cut differently. Normally it cuts right through the crispy crust. This time it took a little more muscle to get through the softer crust.

My white garlic and broccoli floret pizza was light and fluffy, much like pizzeria crust. The flavors of the minced garlic, fresh mozzarella cheese, and crushed red pepper were great! Even though my impromptu experiment with the crust turned out to be a delicious success, I still prefer the crispy crust that comes from pre-heating my pizza stone.

I have been looking forward to the week when our CSA, The Good Food Collective, would include fresh beets and broccoli in our weekly share because I have been super excited to recreate on of my favorite pizzas from last summer.

For this pizza I decided to replace mozzarella cheese with parmesan cheese and forgo spinach. I started by spreading on homemade pizza sauce, then I sprinkled on fresh parmesan cheese. I steamed the broccoli, chopped it, then tossed in on the pizza. The key to this pizza is the preparation of the beets – one of my favorite summertime pizza ingredients. Here’s how I like to prepare them. First, roast the whole beets a toaster oven for about 30 minutes. Next, cut the beets into bite sized pieces. Finally, toss them with a little olive oil, salt and pepper before putting them on the pizza.

Let the pizza bake for about 10 minutes or until the cheese melted. Broccoli, beets and parmesan pizza is a summer delight!

Hams have been cured in Smithfield, Virginia for over two centuries. The colonial town founded in 1752 is home to the Smithfield Packing Company and is known as the “Ham Capital of the World.” Only ham cured, treated, smoked, and processed in the town of Smithfield can carry the name “Smithfield Ham.”

I like to prepare a nice Smithfield Ham on occasion and really enjoy it with a side of broccoli. This got me thinking that a ham and broccoli would make a good pizza so I gave it a shot. I heated a small brown sugar cured ham in the oven and then sliced and diced it into bite sized pieces. Next, I spread marinara sauce onto the pre-baked dough, then sprinkled on cheddar cheese and steamed broccoli.

The ham was tender and the broccoli was cooked just right. I wasn’t sure how I would like ham and marinara sauce together, but with the cheddar cheese and broccoli to accompany it, the pizza turned out delicious!

My Broccoli, Beet and Spinach pizza recipe was a hit. Not only did the colors of the red beets and green broccoli look beautiful together, the flavors complemented each other well!

Here’s how I put it together. I sliced and roasted the beets we received from our food collective this week. While those were roasting I steamed the broccoli. We buy bagged baby spinach so there was no prep needed for that ingredient. Again, I rolled the dough out super thin then I spread on marinara and sprinkled on the low-fat mozzarella cheese. Lastly, I loaded up the veggies. This pizza baked pretty quickly with the super thin crust and light sprinkling of cheese, and also tasted very healthy. While both pizzas of the night were delicious, my Broccoli, Beet and Spinach pizza recipe definitely was the favorite!

Andrew and I have been looking forward to this pizza for quite some time. The only deep-dish pizza I have had is from Uno Chicago Grill and I love it. This week’s pizza recipe brought three new adventures to my kitchen: including cornmeal in the dough, learning about broccoli rabe, and finally using a fresh mozzarella cheese.

For the dough I substituted one cup of cornmeal for one cup of flour, but after mixing it for a few minutes I realized it was too soupy. I added ½ cup more flour and the dough turned out just right. Broccoli has been on two pizzas this year, but for this pizza I purchased broccoli rabe for the first time. The trunks are much thinner and it is quite leafy. Without conferring with the cheese guy Wegmans, I chose Bel Gioioso mozzarella cheese. I then picked up garlic, onion and the Italian sausage Andrew requested be included in the toppings.

After assembling the ingredients in a cake pan, the pizza took about 30 minutes to cook. The crust was thick and softer than the thin crust we are accustomed to. The addition of cornmeal resulted in a cornbread like flavor. The broccoli cooked nicely. The mozzarella was rich and creamy. All together, the pizza was deep and delicious!

Potatoes and pizza never would have crossed my mind. This recipe came from Andrew’s idea to turn our favorite meals into pizza. A simple dish I enjoy making is roasted red potatoes topped with the typical potato toppings so I tried turning it into a pizza tonight. I sliced the potatoes very thin and roasted them with Wegmans Basting Oil with Garlic and Herbs. I brushed the dough with the same basting oil, added scallions, Colby cheese, chopped broccoli, mild Italian sausage and the potatoes. We both really enjoyed it!